Review: Far From You by Tess Sharpe

Far From You by Tess Sharpe
Publisher: Indigo
Publication Date: March 27th 2014
My rating: 3 stars

Nine months. Two weeks. Six days. That's how long recovering addict Sophie's been drug-free. Four months ago her best friend, Mina, died in what everyone believes was a drug deal gone wrong - a deal they think Sophie set up. Only Sophie knows the truth. She and Mina shared a secret, but there was no drug deal. Mina was deliberately murdered. Forced into rehab for an addiction she'd already beaten, Sophie's finally out and on the trail of the killer - but can she track them down before they come for her?

Far From you really was a much different book to what I was expecting. Seriously don’t let the pretty little cover fool you, it was a dark gritty book, but one which took me by surprise in many aspects. 

Sophie had to deal with a lot in her life, she’s been left with a dodgy leg since she found herself in a car accident and then she found herself hooked on pain medication and now she’s lost her best friend. The worse thing is that Sophie can’t do anything about it, as everyone seems to assume that she was back on drugs again, her parents don’t even allow her to prove her innocence by being re-tested and showing she’s clean, just having the drugs on her is all they need to assume she’s guilty. But once Sophie’s finally out of her rehab facility, she wants to get to the bottom of the truth. What happened to Mina that unfortunate night?

I really enjoyed the way Sharpe flicked between the chapters, by giving us snippets of Sophie’s past and the present day. Also these snippets weren’t ordered by their date as well, sometimes we were given snippets to four years ago, and then to two years ago, some may have found this jumping from scene to scene a little confusing, but I think that the scenes fitted in perfectly together. They were perfect in giving you a back story of Sophie’s character, of her relationship with Mina and her brother Trev, but also a better understanding of why things were the way they were. And the snippets worked perfectly in unravelling parts of Sophie’s story, there was a lot of that we didn’t know about, so I enjoyed uncovering bits piece by piece.

 The mystery behind Mina’s death was also wonderfully written too. With Far From you, it was one of those books where I didn’t discover who the killer was until the very end, I had made some guesses along the way, but I ended up being way further from the truth. Sharpe also wonderfully weaved some heart breaking romance into the story, again I was quick to make assumptions about who had romantic feelings with one another and who were likely end up together, but I liked the alternative romantic relationship we were given, I just wished things had worked out differently.

Far From you was a beautifully written story, it’s a book which will keep you on your toes guessing who the killer could be, but also full with gorgeous heart breaking scenes. I am glad that I gave this story a go, because it is so different to a lot of the books already out there.